Kay Parsons

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Watermedia and Mixed Media

Artist Statement

My grandmother was a share cropper in rural Alabama and Georgia during the 30s,40s, 50s of the last century. Aside from providing food for the family with her vegetable garden she also for many years would plant and tend a huge flower garden. The wonder I felt as a child for the flowers and the creatures of her garden is still a central element in my life.

These memories of gardens and flowers are not  romanticized memories neatly encapsulated in a perfect photoshop glow because I very much still see the predawn mornings, the hard work, the poverty, the tiredness in my grandfather's eyes when he came home from the fields in the evenings and the devastated, worried expressions on their faces when the weather was about to destroy a year's worth of work.

But what this childhood  has in these later years left me with is a deep abiding love of the land and an appreciation of what the land can give back if I take care of it. Each flower in my garden is a gift, worked for and appreciated and a testament to the grace of any God and all Gods.

Floral paintings in many sectors of the art world take a very bad rap for being shallow or not relevant in a world of war, starvation, and ecological crisises. I am not without understanding how very lucky I am to have a life where I see beauty every day and I don't have to join the trek to the mall to find it. My paintings are for me a final expression of my connection with  the land and appreciation of each moment the garden gives me. The earth that I love to touch and feel and the paint that speaks to me continually in dreams of color come together in my art to create a pretty lucky human being.  I appreciate and my hope is that we do not lose our gardens and that we all take care of the bit of earth we each inhabit.

Education

United States Navy Air Traffic Control Schools

St. Mary's College, Maryland, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude

Detailed resume available upon request....

WHIDBEYWORKINGArtists

•  Shirley Ashenbrenner

•  Maryon Attwood

•  Marilyn Dessert

•  Nikki Farias

•  Gail Harker

•  Dan Ishler

•  Marcy Johnson

•  Maggie Lancaster

•  Lyla Lillis

•  Rainy Lindell

•  Robbie Lobell

•  Bev McQuary

•  Stacey Neumiller

•  Kathleen Otley

•  Kay Parsons

•  Diane Reardon

•  Gerald Roberts

•  Christopher Saxman

•  Karen Schroeder

•  Mariana Shawver

•  Paula Spina

•  Ann Wilson    

•  Brian Yates

Directions for Tour

Kay Parsons

Coup d'Art

From SR 20 take N Main St towards water. Turn right on NE 9th, then next left on NE Center St. 902 NE Center St.